No other work tells the story of the Minuteman as effectively or as eloquently as The Missile Next Door. Heefner consciously and impressively speaks to two distinct and rarely intertwined literatures: Cold War military strategy and technology and the environmental history of the American West. She admirably demonstrates that the missile's development and deployment offer a unique lens through which to view the broader themes of the Cold War. -- Jeffrey A. Engel, author of Cold War at 30,000 Feet: The Anglo-American Fight for Aviation Supremacy A haunting and intensely personal story about Cold War America's decision to place ICBMs in the Great Plains. Heefner introduces us to the individuals, families, and communities who lived with the cataclysmic potential of nuclear deterrence, and she untangles the complicated relationships they forged with the federal government and the missiles buried in their backyards. Offering compelling prose and analysis, The Missile Next Door is destined to become a classic in Western and Cold War home-front history. -- David Rich Lewis, author of Neither Wolf nor Dog: American Indians, Environment, and Agrarian Change The Missile Next Door is one of the most important books to be written about the history of rural America after World War II. Heefner reveals how the stories of rural residents of the Great Plains can be integral to the history of the nation but remain ignored in its retelling. We can now see that rural people in American West were on the front line of the Cold War. -- Catherine McNicol Stock, author of Rural Radicals: Righteous Rage in the American Grain In this fascinating account, Heefner vigorously argues for the central place of military defense in postwar American life. And she takes us into the very American heartland to tell her story. There, under the Great Plains, a thousand Minuteman missiles stood quietly at attention in their silos. The Missile Next Door reveals how they got there, what they were designed to do, and how they forever changed the nation. This book truly brings the Cold War home. -- William Deverell, author of Whitewashed Adobe: The Rise of Los Angeles and the Remaking of Its Mexican Past
Gretchen Heefner is Assistant Professor of History at Northeastern University.
Superb...From the first pages of the book, Heefner asks her readers
to confront both the utter weirdness and the real threat involved
in a project where people cohabited with missiles that each
contained a 1.2 megaton warhead and a whole defense complex
operated beneath their feet...The stories that unfold in this
book--such as what happens when a few ranchers begin to protest the
arrival of the missiles--are not only essential to understanding
the Cold War West; they are also simply extraordinarily memorable.
The beginning of chapter 4 is a textbook case for any government
agency on how not to introduce a major new program into a
community...Heefner's work is richly researched and wonderfully
written. This book will have broad appeal to western and
twentieth-century historians alike.
*Western Historical Quarterly*
Heefner makes a significant contribution to the growing genre of
new military history, adeptly describing how the Defense Department
made the strategic and political decision to scatter Minuteman
missile silos across the Plains and the upper West...Her
wonderfully written and well-researched work draws from across the
historical spectrum; cultural, social, military, and environmental
historians, in particular, will find value in her effort.
*Choice*
Sure that a 'missile gap' spelled doom for the United States, a
massive national effort began [in the 1960s] to assure nuclear
deterrence against a Soviet attack. Emerging from this hysteria
came the idea of depositing individual intercontinental ballistic
missiles in underground silos across tens of thousands of square
miles in the American heartland. Heefner expertly examines the
players in this ghastly game: the engineers who developed the
technology, the military personnel who implemented it, the
politicians who proselytized for it and the rugged individualist
landowners who accepted it...Heefner's dispassionate and engrossing
prose manages to raise both reasonable and troubling questions. An
important look at a militarized America and the costs of this
transformation.
*Kirkus Reviews*
American history buffs, especially of the impact of national
programs on ordinary lives, and those concerned with the
military-industrial complex, will enjoy.
*Library Journal*
During the cold war, Americans were sold a terrifying and
ultimately unnecessary truth: that to deter disaster, weapons of
mass destruction had to be kept in the heartland. Heefner's
impressive first book focuses on the ways in which the government
and the Air Force controlled the press and sold the public on
storing 1,000 Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missiles
throughout the flyover states. As development costs of the
Minuteman ballooned, local government officials wrote pleas to
house the missiles within their towns. Chosen communities were
often struggling economically, and the jobs and government funding
that came from missile storage seemed a possible panacea. But as
the Soviet threats proved increasingly unlikely, the attitudes of
those who housed the missiles in their backyards changed. Farmers
lost sections of their farmland for decades and did not receive
sufficient compensation for their loss. Ranchers' livelihoods were
often dashed by the militarization of their land, and the land that
had been turned over to the government was often held up by legal
jargon before redistribution, and was unusable for farming by the
time it was returned. Heefner's deftly constructed and accessible
narrative of this troubling period illustrates how war became a way
of life in the mid- 20th century.
*Publishers Weekly*
In this fascinating account, Heefner vigorously argues for the
central place of military defense in postwar American life. And she
takes us into the very American heartland to tell her story. There,
under the Great Plains, a thousand Minuteman missiles stood quietly
at attention in their silos. The Missile Next Door reveals how they
got there, what they were designed to do, and how they forever
changed the nation. This book truly brings the Cold War home.
*William Deverell, author of Whitewashed Adobe: The Rise of Los
Angeles and the Remaking of Its Mexican Past*
No other work tells the story of the Minuteman as effectively or as
eloquently as The Missile Next Door. Heefner consciously and
impressively speaks to two distinct and rarely intertwined
literatures: Cold War military strategy and technology and the
environmental history of the American West. She admirably
demonstrates that the missile's development and deployment offer a
unique lens through which to view the broader themes of the Cold
War.
*Jeffrey A. Engel, author of Cold War at 30,000 Feet: The
Anglo-American Fight for Aviation Supremacy*
A haunting and intensely personal story about Cold War America's
decision to place ICBMs in the Great Plains. Heefner introduces us
to the individuals, families, and communities who lived with the
cataclysmic potential of nuclear deterrence, and she untangles the
complicated relationships they forged with the federal government
and the missiles buried in their backyards. Offering compelling
prose and analysis, The Missile Next Door is destined to become a
classic in Western and Cold War home-front history.
*David Rich Lewis, author of Neither Wolf nor Dog: American
Indians, Environment, and Agrarian Change*
The Missile Next Door is one of the most important books to be
written about the history of rural America after World War II.
Heefner reveals how the stories of rural residents of the Great
Plains can be integral to the history of the nation but remain
ignored in its retelling. We can now see that rural people in
American West were on the front line of the Cold War.
*Catherine McNicol Stock, author of Rural Radicals: Righteous
Rage in the American Grain*
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